Check-marker.



FRANK E. HOUSH, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HATTIF. W.

I BUSTIN, OF SAME PLACE.

CHECK-MARKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 632,266, dated September 5, 1899.

` Application filed January 12, 1897. Serial No. 619,006. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, FRANK E. HOUSH, of Boston, in the county of Suiolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Check-Marker, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is aplan view of my marker, showiu g one means of connecting the guide-frame. Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of my marker, showing another means of connecting the guide-frame. Fig. lis a detail of the marking-letter.

In my improved check-marker the marking is accomplished by pricking the letters or gures which are to be marked upon the check by a multiplicity of perforations as distinguished from punching the gures by a multiplicity of perforations. A checkmarker operating in this way is shown in patent to Coggeshall, No. 441,057, dated November 18, 1890, everything shown in which patent I disclaim.

In the drawings, A is a base, upon which is placed a backing-sheet B, of soft rubber or otherI suitable material. D D are two arms hinged together' at d, the arm D being hinged at cZto the base A. Upon the outer end of arm D is secured byahinge 2a frame E, in which are guide-slots e. At the hinge-points d d d2 are thumb-nuts d3, by means of which the arms D D can be made rigid. Another means of connecting the frame E to the base A is by means of a double frame, (see Fig. 3,) the outer frame G being hinged at g g to the base, and a second frame His mounted so as to slide within frame G. Within frame H the guide-frame Eis so mounted as to slide in a direction at right angles to the line of motion of frame H. It will be obvious that by means of these two motions the frame E may be brought over any part of sheet B. At one side of base A is aslot a, in which are placed the pricking-letters F, the bottom of slot a being covered with an inked pad J. The letters F consist of a body of metal, into one end of which are cast a multiplicity of points in the reverse form of the letter desired and upon the other end of which is a guide-figure. The end of the letter upon which the points are cast has projections f upon opposed sides of the letter to enter the guide-slots e.

The operation is as follows: The check or other paper to be marked is laid upon the sheet I3. The frameE is then moved over the part of the check in which the marks are to be perforated, the connecting means giving the frame E a universal adjustability over the entire surface of sheet B, and if the connecting means used are the arms D D the thumb-nuts d3 are screwed up to hold the frame in the position to which it has been adjusted. The letters F are then used to prick the desired mark, the guide-slots e and projections f serving to control the spacing of the letters as they are successively pricked in the paper and also to control the perpendicular adjustment of the letters. By perpendicular adjustment I mean the adjustment upon a line drawn across the line along which the letters are pricked. It is obvious that it is desirable that the letters be in a straight lineone after the other, and also that they be properly spaced upon that line. It is desirable further that they be straight up and down with reference to each otherc that is, that the perpendiculars of each letter be parallel with the perpendiculars of the other letters. This latter adjustment I call perpendicular adjustment. The points upon the bottom of the letters F rest normally when they are placed in the slot a in the inked pad G and as they are forced through the paper deposit ink upon the upper surface of the paper.

It is desirable that the arms D D should always bend at d in a direction away from the slot o in which the letters F are kept, and to accomplish this end I formthe hinge d as a toggle-joint, so thatthe armsD D cannot be drawn out straight (see Fig. 1) and the hinge d can only bend in the desired direction.

In all prior check-marking devices, so far as I am aware, the check to be marked has been held between a male and female punch, as in the well-known check-perforator, or it has been clamped and held in position over a cavity while the points of the marker have been forced through it and into an inked pad into which the points entered after penetrat- IOO ing the paper, depositing,r ink upon the back of the paper as they were retracted, as in the patent to Coggeshall before mentioned. In my improved marker this ink-containing' cavity and the necessary clamps to hold the paper stretched over the cavity have been dispensed with and the necessary resistance to obtain perforation has been obtained by backing up the paper by a pad. ous, however, that continual pricking in one spot Would soon Wear out the backing-pad, and to obviate this dificultyI have made the guide-frame universally movable in the plane of the pad, so that the paper may be placed anywhere upon the pad. By plaeingthe inkpad in the slot in Which the letters are kept the letters are inked before the mark is made and the ink is deposited upon the front of the paper, where itis much more effective.

It is obvi-y It is obvious that for the base A and sheet zo FRANK E. I-IOUSH.

lVitnesses:

WM. MAYNADIER, JOHN R. SNOW. 

